Not on time to work today. Ah, well. Took a 45-minute lunch to compensate.
A couple days ago, my boss came in while I was on the phone with
a particularly pissy bank manager. She just kept bitching about how much
there was to do, and how understaffed she was, and how long it took just
to open one account… and all I could do was sit there and take it. I mean,
what else can you say than "I understand completely" and similar
platitudes? Suck it up, lady; you’re not the only one with too much to do
and no time to do it!
Anyway, my boss caught me giving a couple inaccurate facts, and
stuck around until I was done on the phone to straighten me out. While he
was doing that, he made a point of telling me to stick up to these people.
"You’re not here to be a whipping post," he told me. I’m not sure
why, but that really kind of made an impression on me. People have told me
before that I need to be more assertive, aggressive, stand up for myself,
et cetera… but for some reason, hearing it from my all-too-passive boss
just really hit me a certain way. I do need to be more assertive.
And I’m here to help, not take their shit.
I did crack someone up on the phone today, though. I’ve decided
that explaining things in my normal Diana way will be the easiest and most
beneficial, instead of trying to sound all poofy and professional. So, as
I was explaining to an Area Operations Manager how to tell her employees
to clear items off of a report, I heard myself saying, "Now, here’s
the funky part…" She had to stop completely and repeat my phrase to
her subordinate. 🙂 I’m not sure if I gained or lost credibility through
being myself, but I think I brightened their moment, anyway.
I worked out with my weights yesterday, and I can tell which
places I worked more than others. My pecs feel stiff, like I just got back
from a drumcorps camp. Everything else ranges from not sore at all to only
mildly feeling worked. I think tonight I’m going to work the stuff that’s
not sore: shoulders, triceps, back. And crunches, too.
I’m confused about how I feel about my body right now. In a given
day, I can go from feeling frumpy to feeling fit. Sometimes I can feel the
fat settling about my neck and hips, and other times I can feel like my abs
are getting tighter and my waist is getting smaller. I did get another compliment
at work today, though, from my old boss’s boss — she was proud that I’d
kept my weight off during the holidays. I didn’t have time to tell her about
my two spoons’ worth of sweet potatoes, which is just as well.
Off to watch HGTV for a while…